


Guidance

by Rivulet027



Series: X-Mansion Series [2]
Category: Deadpool (Movieverse), Generation X (Comic), Marvel (Comics)
Genre: Advice, Background Jono Starsmore/Angelo Espinosa, Cuddling & Snuggling, Established Relationship, F/F, Friendship, Scents & Smells, Teen Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-17
Updated: 2018-12-17
Packaged: 2019-09-21 01:59:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17034296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rivulet027/pseuds/Rivulet027
Summary: Ellie is feeling discouraged about her skills as a leader, her friends offer support.





	Guidance

**Author's Note:**

  * For [herequeerandreadytofight](https://archiveofourown.org/users/herequeerandreadytofight/gifts).



> Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with Marvel. 
> 
> A/N: Thank you to MidnightClarity for the beta. This fic includes several characters from Generation X and also Karma but no knowledge of these characters is necessary. Clint Barton is an Avengers character, he's only mentioned, in the comics he's hard of hearing and knows ASL. Leech has been used in the movieverse before, and I like when he's friends with Artie in the comics so they're in here briefly. Jono Starsmore is a character who lost the lower half of his face and part of his chest when he got his mutant powers, he covers up with a wrapping. Him not having a mouth and being depressed is brought up in this fic. I just used them to give Ellie and Yukio friends.

Ellie rests her chin on her girlfriend’s shoulder and tries not to sigh into her ear. She occasionally murmurs a comment when Yukio shows her something on her phone. She presses a kiss just behind Yukio’s ear, thrilling a bit when it make Yukio sigh. She doesn’t point out that it’s almost dinner time. One of Yukio’s roommates comes in, grabs something out of the dresser, says a quick goodbye and is out the door almost as fast as they came in. Yukio pats her arm. “Want to tell me what’s wrong?”

Ellie wants to deflect with a joke, but everything that she can come up with either falls flat or feels like it’s making fun of Chamber. She wets her lips and admits, “What if I’m not good enough to lead?”

Yukio makes a considering noise. She’s not dismissing Ellie’s worry, she’s weighing it, taking the time to break it apart before commenting. Finally she points out, “They haven’t had you train a consistent team.”

“No,” Ellie agrees. “The line-up keeps changing.”

As soon as she gets a group working together well, figures out how to utilizes everyone’s powers so that they survive the scenario the Danger Room is throwing at them, she’s given a new team to work with.

“Have you asked why?” Yukio asks.

“No,” Ellie admits. “I’ve just resigned myself to failing again and again.”

“Are you failing or are you learning?” Yukio pushes as she turns in Ellie’s arms so they can look at each other.

“I must have a lot to learn,” Ellie sighs.

Yukio touches her lips. “Such a pout.”

Ellie rolls her eyes and leans in to kiss her girlfriend. When they part she prompts, “Food?”

Yukio makes a considering noises before she agrees.

After picking up what they’d like to eat they find Angelo and Jono seated in a back corner. Yukio makes a happy noise and slides in next to Jono. He accepts it when she hugs him, even hugs her back briefly. He leans his chair back against the corner when she pulls away and glances around the dining hall. His dark brown eyes look leery. Ellie pauses and catches Angelo’s gaze before she raises her eyebrows. Chamber, Jono Starsmore, is a pain to get out of bed. This last week he’s rarely left his private room, except to bathe. He’s been skipping classes and this is the first time she’s seen him in the dining hall, which isn’t that much of a surprise considering he doesn’t need to eat. 

“Homework,” Angelo tells her.

“They gave you homework?” Ellie asks. “When did you go to class?”

She takes a seat next to Yukio as Jono’s gaze shifts to her. His eyebrows crinkle briefly in amusement. This is why they’re friends, he just gets that she’s teasing him in a friendly way. 

“Therapy. It’s been decided I have to go to therapy,” Jono explains with his telepathy. She can hear the words, in what she assumes is a tone and accent similar to his old voice, in her head, but she can also feel that he’s tired and slightly amused.

“Therapy homework,” Ellie nods. “That makes sense.”

Jono picks absently at the table. Angelo slides a small bowl of mac and cheese in front of him. Jono leans in and sniffs the food before wrinkling his nose in disgust at Angelo. 

“It’s awful,” Angelo agrees with a laugh. “I was hoping it at least smelled good.”

“I think it’s okay,” Yukio disagrees as she snags the bowl. She tilts her head at Angelo. He shrugs and tells her she can have it. She holds out an apple as substitute.

“Maybe the muffin?” Angelo bargains.

“There was only one cinnamon left,” Yukio defends. “I was going to split it with Ellie.”

“I prefer the blueberry,” Ellie chimes in. “You can split it with Ang if you want.”

“You don’t have a blueberry,” Jono points out.

“Didn’t have any,” Ellie shrugs. “I’ll get one tomorrow.”

“You sure?” Yukio asks.

Ellie nods. Yukio places the plate with the muffin on it in front of Jono and holds out a plastic knife. Jono sits forward to take it from her. He slowly peels the wrapper off before cutting the muffin in half. He hands the piece on the plate to Yukio even as he brings the second half close to smell. His eyes close in pleasure and Elli gets a brief hint of Jono remembering what cinnamon and bread tastes like. Jono’s eyes widen and he shoves the half in his hands towards Ang. As soon as Ang take the food Jono signs, “Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Yukio reassures. “I think it was just us.”

“No one else reacted,” Ellie agrees.

“Sorry,” Jono signs again.

Ellie waits till he’s looking at her before she signs back, “It’s okay.”

“Is Mr. Barton still coming tomorrow for ASL lessons?” Yukio asks.

“He’s going to be with Jono and Artie in the morning and then will meet the rest of us after lunch,” Ang tells her. "At least that's the plan."

Jono’s fingers drum against the table and he glances at Ang, who just sighs and rubs a hand over Jono’s back.

“Please don’t cancel again,” Yukio puts in. “I know he’ll come down for Artie, but we want a learn too.”

“Your girlfriend is adorable,” Jono tells Ellie in her head. There’s an undercurrent of guilt and exhaustion in his words.

“I know,” Ellie agrees. She reaches out and squeezes Yukio’s hand. In an effort to change the subject and keep Jono feeling involved Ellie suggests they come up with other foods that Jono might enjoy smelling.

After dinner Jono retreats back to his room and the three of them head to the library to work on homework. Ellie doesn’t have any left, but she considers looking at books on depression. Is there a way to be more understanding of Jono’s moods or help more as a friend? She wanders towards one of the computers so she can check the catalog when the school’s librarian, Xi’an, pauses from where she’s headed towards the shelves with a cart full of books, “Need any help?”

“I…” Ellie isn’t sure how to explain what she hopes to find. She blinks at Xi’an briefly as it registers that before she went to college, before she became the school librarian, Xi’an has been a leader with a team. “Is it okay to ask for advice?”

“That’s what I’m here for,” Xi’an reminds.

“Not about,” Ellie starts to clarify, then trails off. How does she explain? What does she asks? She sighs and settles on, “Were there any books that helped you be a better leader?”

Xi’an’s smile is teasing, “And here I was worried you ask me for relationship advice? How to raise two siblings I might be better suited to answer, so for a moment I was worried.”

Ellie feels herself relax. “Do you miss it?”

“Being out in the field? Having everyone call me Karma?” Xi’an asks.

Ellie nods.

“Some days, but it’s dangerous and I have the previously mentioned siblings to finish raising. I might do it again someday, when they’re grown, but I’m enjoying being surrounded by books.”

“They keep changing my line up,” Ellie admits. 

Xi’an nods and invites Ellie to help her finish shelving the books on her cart as they talk. Ellie agrees. They’ve barely stepped into the rows upon rows of shelves when Xi’an admits, “There weren’t as many students when I first started, but they changed which one of us was leader to get us all used to leading in the field. They changed line-ups when they could. You never really know who you’re going to run into when you’re out there trying to help people.”

“With my luck it’ll be Deadpool.” Ellie mutters. At least she’s on Colossus’ team still, she can let Piotr make decisions a bit longer.

“He sounds like a character,” Xi’an comments.

“You don’t know the half of it,” Ellie grumbles.

Xi’an pulls a few books for her to look over and Ellie’s feeling more confident until the next morning when her new team takes six tries not to ‘die’ running the Danger Room scenario. She tells them they did a good job, they did improve each time they ran the scenario, as they head to the locker rooms. She frowns as the fake outdoor world melts away and she’s left staring at the empty silver walls of the danger room. She’s getting tired of feeling disappointed in herself. 

“They’re getting better,” Ororo reminds as she joins Ellie.

“They kept dying,” she points out running a hand over her face.

“They kept improving too, and this is a difficult stimulation.”

Ellie nods in acknowledgement and wets her lips. She wants to ask if her teaching and leadership skills are improving, but she’s also not sure she wants the answer. She’s glances at Ororo and tries not to be surprise at the relief that washes over her when she gets an understanding smile.

“I doubted myself too,” Ororo reassures.

Ellie wants to laugh. It’s difficult to imagine Ororo, who is so poised and confident, ever being plagued by doubts like Ellie is.

“Thanks,” Ellie manages instead of voicing her doubts.

“Go, spend time with your friends.”

After her shower Ellie checks her phone and smiles when she sees a text from Yukio. She’s taken a selfie with Jono and Ang sitting under Yukio’s favorite tree. Ellie looks at Yukio’s request for food and texts back that if she doesn’t specify what she wants she can’t complain about what she gets. Yukio quickly text back, “You”. It’s followed by a bunch kisses.

Ellie smiles to herself as she loads up on sandwiches and snacks in the cafeteria so she can take it out to them. She pauses when she realizes that there are cinnamon chocolate chip muffins. She gives Ev a pleading look, “Do you have time to warm these up? They’d smell better.”

“Jono?” Ev asks.

“He liked the way they smelled yesterday, and he’ll get Yukio and Ang to eat them,” she agrees.

Ev grabs two. “I think we have some blueberry left.”

“Really?”

“I’ll see if I can find you some,” he smiles. He sets the two muffins on a plate, asks Paige to help the person behind Ellie, and then heads to the kitchen. He comes back a moment later with three muffins, one of them her blueberry, all of them warmed up.

“Thanks, Ev.”

“You’re welcome,” he smiles, before he’s turning to assist Leech with helping Artie pick out lunch.

Ellie greets the two younger boys. Leech greets her back and Artie waves.

She finds her friends still under the tree. Jono is resting against the trunk with his eyes close. He has an arm around Ang’s waist loosely as Ang frowns at his homework. Yukio is laying in the grass with her head on Jono’s thigh as she reads a book. They’re all in the shade.

Yukio lowers her books as Ellie approaches and her face lights up with a smile. She scrambles to her feet to help carry the food. “Jono look muffins!”

Jono blinks his eyes open to look at them. He signs, “Tired.”

“But out of bed!” Yukio enthuses.

“Because Barton wanted to do ASL outside,” Jono complains in their heads. He sounds disgruntled, but his words are tinged with a feeling of exhaustion and sadness. He wrinkles his nose and signs, “Sorry. I can sign that.”

“Might not have understood it yet,” Ellie shrugs. She snags her blueberry muffin before she shoves the plate at Jono. His eyebrows go up in interested before his eyes close in bliss.

“Share,” Ang complains as he closes his book.

Jono gives Ang a speculative look before he holds the plate out for Yukio. She selects a muffin.

“No loyalty,” Ang grumbles.

Jono raises an eyebrow and breaks off a piece of the muffin before feeding it to Ang.

“And you two aren’t dating?” Ellie questions.

Jono shakes his head and feeds Ang another piece of muffin. Ang grins at him fondly. Yukio giggles and leans in to give Ellie a kiss. She smiles into the kiss, trying to hold onto her muffin, and the bag of food while also kissing her girlfriend.

“Should we try to set you up?” Yukio teases.

Jono wrinkles his nose in disgust before he breaks off another piece of muffin. He smells it, eyes crinkling into a smile, before he holds it out to Ang. Ang just rolls his eyes and accepts the food.

“That would require getting out of bed?” Ellie guesses.

Jono shrugs. Ang shakes his head. "We're still in the talking about it phase. I think? Right?"

Jono agrees.

“Is Barton still here?” Ellie asks as she settles in the shade with her girlfriend.

“Lunch, then ASL lessons with us, Leech and Artie,” Ang informs her.

“Good,” Ellie smiles in relief. Sometimes schedules change, especially when the person teaching is also on a team of superheroes. She wants to learn how to help Jono communicate without having to use his telepathy. He doesn’t like that some of his emotions come through with his words and he’s working on controlling that, but learning ASL with Clint Barton is another option that helps. Clint comes down once a week to teach them new words and make them practice. She knows Jono uses some of the online resources Clint’s pointed out to them, when he has the energy.

“How was training?” Yukio asks as she passes out the sandwiches.

Ellie groans. “We died five times. It was awful.”

Ang groans. “I hope we have an easier program tomorrow.”

“Not likely,” Yukio smiles. “but we’ll learn something.”

Ang shakes his head at Jono, “Enjoy the smell. I’ll finish it when you’re done.”

He takes a sandwich when Yukio offers.

“They do smell better warm,” Yukio agrees.

Jono agrees, then tilts his head to look at her. She raises her eyebrows at him.

“Thanks,” he signs at her. For a moment she thinks he means the food, but then he clarifies with telepathy. “For doing what I can’t.”

For one brief moment she wants to reassure him that if he wanted to train to be an X-man they’d take him, but she knows that if she wasn’t ready and someone pointed that out to her she’d not take it well. She knows he’s not ready, there are still days he can barely get out of bed. She takes in the seriousness in Jono’s expression and the warmth in his eyes. With a smiles she signs. “You’re welcome.”

She finally feels herself relax against Yukio. The training is tough, but she’s suddenly feeling more optimistic.


End file.
